iHW raises $37M Series A for ultra-low-power AI chips
What's the deal? Intelligent HW (iHW), a South Korean fabless startup building ultra-low-power AI chips, has raised a 52 billion KRW (roughly $37 million) Series A. Kolon InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, which drew 13 investors in total.
Who's in: Existing backers Woori Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Mirae Asset Venture InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, DSC InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and HB InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → all followed on. Korea Development BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → joined as a new investor, while LIG Defense & AerospaceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and IBK CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → came in as a consortium.
By the numbers: iHW raised a 12 billion KRW pre-Series A in late 2024, bringing total funding to 64 billion KRW. It has also secured more than $10 million in government funding through 2025 grants from two ministries.
What's the endgame? iHW's INFERTRON chip uses analog compute-in-memory (ACiM), running calculations where weights are stored rather than moving data to a separate circuit. The company says that cuts power draw and latency, works on mature process nodes, and needs no external DRAM or cooling hardware.
Why now? Founder and chief executive officer Kim Tae-hoon, a memory veteran of SamsungDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, MicronDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and SK HynixDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, argues that power and cooling demands are delaying data centre construction and constraining battery-dependent edge AI. He said iHW has secured "ultra-low-power neuromorphic technology" spanning data centres to on-device AI.
Where the money goes: iHW plans to fund mass production of edge AI chips, prototype LLM chips, marketing, and new hires. Founded in June 2024 by veterans from Samsung, SK Hynix, and IntelDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, it is also co-developing a low-power humanoid SoC with the Korea Electronics Technology InstituteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Investor view: Kolon Investment's Cho Hong-soo said the firm responded to market demand for ACiM chips that solve the memory-wall problem, adding that silicon validation of the core block showed potential to capture edge markets such as smart cities, industrial vision, and robotics.
The signal: The round ranks in the top 5% of all-time Series A deals for deep tech in South Korea, a sign of investor appetite for domestic chip plays. It lands amid a run of local semiconductor raises, including IVWorks' 6 billion KRW pre-IPO round and UniconDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s 18.5 billion KRW Series B.
Read more: wowtale.net
Image credit: Yu. Samoilov
